Nghe An player misses Vietnam national team due to... serious illness

According to the official training list announced by VFF this morning (October 9), Coach Park Hang-seo decided not to choose Van Kien, the right-back who had an excellent season with the 2018 V.League champion - Hanoi FC.

This was quite a surprising decision because in the context of Vu Van Thanh's injury, the player from Nghe An with his comprehensive offensive and defensive ability on the right wing was considered the most promising candidate for a place in the national team.

Van Kien (left) contributed greatly to the championship of Hanoi Club.

Previously, Coach Park had called up Van Kien to prepare for the 2018 U23 Asian Cup. However, after a health check, he had to withdraw his decision. The Korean strategist said: "When he went for a check-up, the medical team said that Van Kien had a heart condition and forced me to send him back to Hanoi Club, even though I really wanted to keep him."

In addition to playing for Hanoi FC, before that at SEA Games 29, Coach Huu Thang also used this player in the U22 Vietnam squad. However, according to many opinions, the training intensity at the national team is much more stressful and Mr. Park wants to avoid unfortunate risks happening to his students.

As a result, the full-back position of the Vietnam national team began to show a crisis when Mr. Park only had one high-class name left, Van Hau. Before Van Thanh, another full-back of the Vietnam U23 team, Xuan Manh, was also seriously injured and absent from the AFF Cup.

Other names such as Pham Van Thanh (still "employed" by Hanoi FC as a striker), Pham Duc Huy (originally a winger, now a central midfielder) or Dinh Viet Tu (never played for the national team) do not create absolute trust.

This will certainly be a problem that will give the Korean coach a headache in finding a solution in the coming weeks, in the context that the AFF Suzuki Cup is only one month away from kicking off.